Grass Valley Municipal Code Ch. 6.16 Dogs

A. It is unlawful for any person to own or keep any dog in the city over the age of four months for a longer period than thirty days after it has attained the age of four months, and in the case of a dog that is brought into the city that is over four months of age, for a longer period than thirty days after it is brought into the city, without having obtained a license therefor, as provided in this chapter; except, that in the case where a dog brought into the city bears an unexpired license issued by any other jurisdiction, the owner shall apply for a replacement tag pursuant to Section 6.16.030.

B. Any dog over the age of four months unlicensed and unvaccinated as provided in this chapter, or found to be running at large, whether licensed or not, shall be impounded in the city animal shelter, subject to sale, retention, disposition or release as provided in this title.

(Prior code § 2-18)

A. The license period shall be from January 1 to December 31 and shall be for a period of one year. All licenses issued for dogs during the license period shall expire on December 31 of the year of issuance.

B. Fees for licenses required by this chapter shall be fixed and determined by council resolution. Any owner failing to obtain a dog license shall be subject to an additional late fee as prescribed by council resolution. The license fee for a dog certified to be spayed or neutered shall be fifty percent of the fee for an unaltered dog.

(Ord. 604 § 1, 2002; Prior code § 2-19)

A. Application for dog licenses shall be made at either city hall or such other office or location as is designated by the director of animal control or by contract. A license tag shall be issued and delivered to an applicant upon receipt of payment of the required fee.

B. Every person applying for a dog license must exhibit a certificate issued by a person licensed by the state to practice veterinary medicine, which certificate shall show that the dog for which the license shall be issued, either:

1. Has been vaccinated for rabies; or

2. Should not be so vaccinated by reason of age, infirmity or other disability.

Such exemption shall be valid for a period not to exceed one year. A license for any dog shall not be issued unless and until either such certificate is exhibited.

(Prior code § 2-20)

A. Where ownership of a duly licensed dog is transferred, the transferring owner shall cause such license to be transferred to the new owner by making application therefor in the same manner as required by Section 6.16.030 when applying for a new license, and paying the transfer fee fixed by resolution of the city council.

B. A transferring owner who fails to comply with this section shall be presumed to still be the owner of such dog and subject to all the provisions of this chapter applicable to owners of dogs.

(Prior code § 2-21)

The dog license, issued pursuant to this chapter, shall set forth a description of the dog to be licensed, the year in which issued, the date of rabies vaccination, the veterinarian's certificate number or the serum number, the sex of the dog, the number of the license, and a statement showing the amount of the fee and that it has been paid, and the name and address of the owner.

(Prior code § 2-22)

It is unlawful for any person required to have a license pursuant to this chapter to fail, refuse or neglect to exhibit it, upon request, to the director of animal control or other authorized person.

(Prior code § 2-23)

The owner of a licensed dog shall cause the license tag issued for such dog to be affixed by a permanent metal fastening to the collar or harness on the dog in such a way that the tag may be easily seen by the director of animal control or other authorized person. It shall be the duty of the owner of a licensed dog to cause the dog collar or harness on which the license tag is attached to be worn by such dog at all times. Any dog not wearing a license tag as provided in this section shall be impounded in the city animal shelter subject to retention, sale or disposition as provided in this chapter.

(Prior code § 2-24)

It is unlawful for any person either to imitate or counterfeit the license tags provided for in this chapter or knowingly to use any imitation or counterfeit of such tags.

(Prior code § 2-25)

In the event that a current license tag is lost, the owner shall promptly apply for the issuance of a replacement tag. At the time of applying for the replacement tag, the owner shall surrender the license pertaining thereto and shall pay a fee as prescribed by city council resolution.

(Prior code § 2-26)

A. The amount of any license tax or penalty imposed by this chapter shall be deemed a debt to the city.

B. Any person owning, having or keeping any dog in this city without having obtained a license to do so shall be liable to an action in the name of this city in any court of competent jurisdiction for the amount of any license tax imposed by and required by this city to be paid for the privilege of keeping and having such dog.

C. It shall be the duty of the director of animal control to cause a complaint to be filed against any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter and to cause an action to be brought against any person failing to pay any license tax required by the provisions of this article for the recovery of such tax.

D. Such action shall be cumulative and shall not be deemed as a bar to or a waiver of the right of this city to prosecute any person for a violation of this chapter.

(Prior code § 2-27)

A. Every person owning or having charge, care, custody or control of any dog shall keep such dog exclusively upon its own premises; provided, however, that such dog may be off such premises if it is under the control of a competent person and restrained by a substantial chain or leash not exceeding six feet in length.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, if shall be unlawful for any person owning or having charge, care, custody or control of any dog, whether or not restrained as provided for in subsection (A) of this section, or any other animal, to allow such dog or animal to be in or upon any public street or grounds or area during any public sanctioned or permitted event such as, but not limited to, Cornish Christmas, the Draft Horse events, craft fairs, car shows, or other organized gatherings and events such as parades and sidewalk sales. This section shall not apply to guide dogs, signal dogs, or service dogs specially trained for that purpose accompanying a person who is totally or partially blind, deaf, hearing impaired, or physically handicapped, or otherwise prevent the city from complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act or related provisions of state and federal law.

C. Notwithstanding subsection (B) of this section, dogs and animals may be permitted to be in or upon any public street or grounds or area during any public sanctioned or permitted event if permitted pursuant to the procedures established in chapter 5.32 of this Code.

D. It is unlawful for any person to leave an unattended dog tethered upon or along a public right-of-way.

E. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code, every violation of any of the provisions of this section or Section 6.12.010 shall be punishable as an infraction and shall be punished by a fine as established by Government Code Section 36900 then in effect.

(Ord. 500 § 1, 1993: prior code § 2-29)

(Ord. No. 15-761, § 1, 10-13-2015)

The following specific acts and conditions committed by a dog are unlawful and constitute a public nuisance, and any person or owner keeping, maintaining or harboring any dog committing any of the following acts shall be subject to the penalties provided by this chapter:

A. Being in or upon any public building, park, playground or recreational area, public or private school grounds, except when authorized by appropriate public officials, and excepting further, service dogs specially trained for that purpose accompanying a person who is totally or partially blind, deaf, hearing impaired, or physically handicapped;

B. Annoying, harassing, nipping, mauling or biting any person or persons;

C. A female dog in breedable condition being within the city, except when confined in or upon the premises of its owner in such a manner as not to be accessible to male dogs;

D. Damaging or destroying any property or thing of value;

E. Disturbing the peace and quiet of one or more persons in the immediate neighborhood by barking or making unusual noises as more specifically provided for in Section 6.16.121.

F. Defecating on public or private property not belonging to its owner without immediately cleaning or removing the excrement to a proper receptacle.

(Ord. 606 § 1, 2002: Ord. 500 § 2, 1993: prior code § 2-30)

A. It is unlawful for any person to keep, maintain, or knowingly permit in or upon any premises within the city any barking dog that is under the control of that person. "Barking dog" means a dog that barks, bays, cries, howls or makes any other noise continuously and incessantly for a period of ten minutes within a fifteen-minute period to the disturbance of any other person. The issuance of a citation shall be within the discretion of the animal control officer or other enforcement person. Nothing in this section shall require or prevent the utilization of nuisance abatement procedures for abatement of the nuisance created by such barking dog.

B. It is unlawful for any person, after being informed orally or in writing by the city that his or her dog by continual barking, has disturbed any other person's peace and quiet, to fail, refuse or neglect to take whatever steps or use whatever means are necessary to assure that the dog does not again disturb the other person's peace and quiet. In the event there is a failure, refusal or neglect to take such steps to abate the noise animal control officers or police officers may enter the yard and impound any dog where the violation is occurring.

C. It is unlawful for any person, after being notified by animal control of at least two prior instances of continual barking by a dog on the premises occupied by that person, to permit any dog to remain thereupon uncontrolled, or permit any dog to remain outside the residential structure located on the premises, without some adult person in attendance in the building to control the animal and assure that no further instances of uncontrolled barking shall occur. Nor shall any person previously served with any such notice fail to correct and control any such dog found barking repeatedly upon the premises. The prior instances referred to herein need not be instances in which a citation has been issued, and may include instances where warnings or citations have been given to the same or different persons within the immediately preceding twelve months.

D. It shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of this section if the owner or person in charge of the dog can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the only reason the dog was barking was that it was being provoked by a person not residing on the dog's premises or otherwise being incited to bark or was at the specific time acting as a guide dog, hearing, service or police dog.

E. This section shall not be construed to prohibit the keeping of any watch dog, when it in the act of protecting or resisting trespassers upon its premises, provided, the keeper thereof takes immediate steps to quiet such dog whenever it barks, and provided further that such keeper never leaves such dog unattended on the premises in a place where its barking, if prolonged or repeated an undue number of times, unreasonably disturbs a person of ordinary sensitiveness.

(Ord. 606 § 2, 2002)

Any person capturing a stray dog shall promptly deliver it to the director of animal control of promptly notify the director of animal control of the capture and thereafter release the dog to the director of animal control on demand.

(Prior code § 2-50)

Pursuant to Section 836.5 of the California Penal Code, sworn officers of the Grass Valley police department, the senior animal control officer and the animal control officers are authorized to enforce this title and arrest/cite violators thereof.

(Ord. 606 § 3, 2002)

Whenever it shall be affirmed in writing, by three or more persons living in separate dwelling units in the neighborhood, that any dog is an habitual nuisance by reason of frequent, persistent, or long-continued howling, barking, or other noise, or is in any other manner causing undue annoyance, by reason of chronic leash law violations or unsanitary conditions that shall constitute a public nuisance, the animal control department, through investigation, if it finds such public nuisance to exist, shall serve written notice upon the owner or custodian that the public nuisance shall be abated or the animal shall be impounded in a legal manner. If the nuisance and annoyance is not successfully abated, as affirmed in writing by the original petitioner(s), the department shall present the results of the investigation of such nuisance to the officer responsible for prosecution within the jurisdiction wherein such nuisance is being maintained.

Nothing herein shall prevent the prosecuting officer from initiating abatement proceedings as conferred upon the city by Civil Code Section 3494, Code of Civil Procedure Section 731, Government Code Section 38773 or other lawful authority.

(Ord. 606 § 4, 2002)

A. First Violation. Any initial violation of this chapter by a person shall be an infraction punishable under Chapter 1.12 of this Code.

B. Second and Subsequent Violations. Any second and subsequent violation of this chapter shall be a deemed a misdemeanor punishable under Chapter 1.12 of this Code.

(Ord. 606 § 5, 2002; Ord. No. 791, § 1, 9-26-2017)